Tearing Up The Jack Welch Playbook

General Electric Presentation

On September 7th, 2001, Jeff Immelt, now a 24-year veteran of GE, was appointed Chairman. Four days later, the world changed forever.

Over the past twenty minutes we have given you a window into the world of GE under Jack Welch, and now I would like to take you through the past 5 years, and into the new GE under Jeff Immelt, GEs 9th Chairman in its 128 year history.

I am sure that everyone has read the recent Fortune article entitled "Tearing up the Jack Welch Playbook," and I would like to offer our own interpretation of Welch and Immelt's executive leadership styles through a comparison of the two leaders and how they traveled two roads, both with a single destination, both requiring different vehicles

Strategy – • As such, Immelt has turned to GE's core customers for actual product / R&D ideas during what he has coined "dreaming sessions." Given the rate at which new products are being developed, Immelt is out to truly find uncontested markets, via the feedback and input from those who use them. These are Blue Oceans (mention book reference) where companies are not competing, spilling one another's blood to make an existing product better. Rather, the strategy employed here is to really listen to your customers and then take their needs, desires, and input back to your team so that the "dreams" can then turn into a reality that is both refined and

I am sure that everyone has read the recent Fortune article entitled "Tearing up the Jack Welch Playbook," and I would like to offer our own interpretation of Welch and Immelt's executive leadership styles through a comparison of the two leaders and how they traveled two roads, both with a single destination, both requiring different vehicles to get there.

I. Growth – • Immelt, after seeing his company's earnings follow the unfavorable trends post 09-11, truly entered the CEO position during a time of global economic transition. The entire world (not just the business world) was experiencing a shift in thinking towards personal responsibility. More importantly, the people had finally caught up with the practices, and companies could no longer get ahead by having a lean process, or by understanding how to manufacture more effectively than their competition. Immelt has recognized that in order to succeed in today's environment, you need to understand what your customers need and where those products will be most successful in both new and existing